Arrests made in Clinton Hwy. shooting

CLAXTON — A 23-year-old Oak Ridge man remained in Anderson County jail Monday on three counts of attempted first-degree murder after reportedly shooting at three people in a home on Clinton Highway.

CLAXTON — A 23-year-old Oak Ridge man remained in Anderson County jail Monday on three counts of attempted first-degree murder after reportedly shooting at three people in a home on Clinton Highway.

Jacob Lynn Rutherford, 130 Grandcove Lane, was booked into the jail at 3:41 a.m. Sunday, according to the jail website.

A woman identified as his girlfriend, 24-year-old Maggie Taylor Atteberry, 647 Jade Court, Clinton, was charged with accessory after the fact.

Atteberry was released after making $5,000 bond.

Deputies with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department were called to the Bread Box Market on Edgemoor Road in the Claxton Community about 5:24 p.m. Saturday, according to a press release. They were told a person had been shot and when they arrived they found 36-year-old Nathan Lynn Phillips of Clinton.

However, the media release stated that Phillips had actually been shot at a home on Clinton Highway and a person taking him to the hospital stopped at the Bread Box to call for an ambulance. The ambulance took Phillips to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition on Monday afternoon, according to a hospital spokesman.

The release stated that after deputies learned the shooting took place at a Clinton Highway home, they went there and found 34-year-old William Ernest Foster, who had also been shot. He also was taken to UT hospital, but was treated and released.

“Rutherford is accused of shooting Phillips and Foster and also of trying to shoot at a third person — but missing,” Sheriff's Department officials stated in the release. “There were four others present at the time of the shootings and additional charges are forthcoming against Rutherford.”

In an email, Chief Deputy Mark Lucas stated that Rutherford and Atteberry were taken into custody without incident at a relative's mobile home. He does not specify the location of the mobile home or whether Rutherford or Atteberry are related to the trailer's occupant.

The jail website indicates Rutherford has been arrested and booked into the county jail multiple times in 2017 and 2016. His charges for those years include domestic assault, probation violations, multiple charges of aggravated assault and, in April 2016, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault and attempted second-degree murder.

In that April 2016 case, The Oak Ridger reported at the time that arrest warrants filed by the Oak Ridge Police Department stated that Rutherford, then 21, began an assault on a woman at her mother's home in Rocky Top, where she'd gone to get help in getting away from him, and continued after he forcibly took her to his home on Locust Lane in Oak Ridge.

The jail website does not indicate the outcome of cases or whether they've been dropped or are still pending in court.

Atteberry also has been arrested several times in the past on charges ranging from contributing to the delinquency of a minor to aggravated burglary.

Donna Smith can be contacted at (865) 220-5514 and follow her on Twitter @ridgernewsed.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.